JEDDAH, 12 May 2005 — A 17-year-old male student was expelled from school in Makkah after he was diagnosed with AIDS. The case has caused tension between the Education Administration and the Health Affairs in Makkah.
The Education Administration insisted on expelling the student from his high school because of the school administration’s concern and other parents’ fear of transmitting the virus to other students and school staff. The Department of Health Affairs had previously assured everyone that the student did not pose any health threat and could continue attending the school.
The student’s father presented a letter to the governor of Makkah region imploring him to find a solution for his son who was refused enrollment in the Vocational Institute in Makkah, according to Al-Watan newspaper. The father claims that his son was accepted in the institute but then refused entry after he was diagnosed with AIDS and this affected him psychologically.
“Our policy is that a student with AIDS is not a threat because the virus can only be transmitted through sexual intercourse or direct contact with infected blood, so it is safe to interact with the student,” said Fayeq Hussein, PR director at Makkah Health Affairs Department.
“The Institute sent us an inquiry on this student’s case and we informed them that there is no reason from a health perspective not to enroll him. Even if he has an injury and he bleeds, there is no fear of transmission except through direct contact of blood with this student’s infected blood,” he said.
“He was enrolled with us and we didn’t know that he was infected with AIDS because we don’t do that kind of check-up on our applicants,” said Mahmoud Al-Harbi, director of the Vocational Institute in Makkah. The student was diagnosed with AIDS when he went for his practical training at the Saudi Binladin Group where they do a complete medical check-up.
“They decided to expel him from the program because of his condition which they consider to be a danger on their trainees and staff due to the nature of the job where they are susceptible to injuries,” he said. “We have no problem in enrolling him and we have not received any directives not to accept him, but I explained to the father that we cannot take him in now because he was stopped from training for the past three months and cannot join the current batch of trainees and instead should reapply and join in at the beginning of the next school year,” said Al-Harbi.
